UPDATE (May 11, 2016, 1:45 PM): Weather has impacted the start of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament as field conditions have washed out Wednesday's games in St. Cloud. The University of Minnesota Duluth's quest to add a conference tournament title to its NSIC Regular Season Championship this year will wait a day as the team's first round game against the University of Sioux Falls has been delayed to Thursday morning. Times for the readjusted schedule have yet to be released.
2016 NSIC Baseball Tournament
The University of Minnesota Duluth split its final six games against No. 3 St. Cloud State University and University of Mary but did enough to claim the team's first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season crown since the 2003 season, finishing with 29-7 record in league play and a Bulldog program best 36 wins in the regular season.
No. 20 UMD (36-12) will be the top seed when the NSIC Postseason Tournament begins Wednesday in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Bulldogs will take on eighth seed the University of Sioux Falls in the first round of the double elimination tournament, which will be held May 11-14 at Joe Faber and Dick Putz Fields in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The winner of an eight-team postseason conference tournament is the NSIC automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament. The NSIC tournament is double elimination format and all games are nine innings in length. The 10-run mercy rule shall not be used in NSIC Tournament games.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS | 21-28-1
Sioux Falls earned its first ever berth into the NSIC Tournament, sneaking into the eighth seed with a 4-4 record in its final eight games to push to 14-18-1 in the conference, despite falling twice on Saturday against Minnesota State University to end the regular season ... the Cougars tripped up second seed Augustana (S.D.) University twice last Wednesday at home ... sophomore infielder Dylan Gavin hit .625 (10-of-17) against UMD during the regular season, punishing Bulldog pitching with two home runs and four doubles, driving in six runs and scoring seven times ... sophomore catcher Connor Merriam hit .357 (5-of-14) with two homers, seven RBIs, and seven runs scored against UMD ... freshman infielder Josh Rehwaldt led Sioux Falls in the regular season hitting .378 with 41 RBIs and 40 runs scored ... USF posted a 19.48 ERA during its four-game set against the Bulldogs, and senior lefty Zachary Miller picked up the Cougars' lone victory of the series with 5.0 innings pitched, allowing five earned runs of nine hits while striking out five ... Miller posted a 5.70 ERA and 2-7 record on the season, while Gavin actually led the Sioux Falls pitching staff with a 4.01 ERA and 8-0 record ... head coach Matt Giuliano is in his ninth season at Sioux Falls ... UMD took 3-of-4 in the season series against the Cougars, including the epic 31-16 victory on April 9. The Bulldogs are 9-3 all-time against Sioux Falls.
LOOKING FORWARD
A victory over Sioux Falls means UMD will be back on Faber Field on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. to take on the winner of game two of the tournament between fourth-seed Minnesota State (33-14) and fifth-seed Concordia University, St. Paul (27-13). If the Bulldogs are defeated, they'll jump into the other side of the bracket to take on the loser of game two on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. at Faber Field. UMD took 3-of-4 from Minnesota State on the road March 28-29 and swept a four-game set against Concordia-St. Paul on April 16-17 at Bulldog Park.
CIRCLING THE BASES
Junior catcher
Marco Lucarelli led the Bulldogs offensively in five games, hitting .583 with a 1.000 slugging percentage while reaching base at a .643 clip. He slugged a home run, drove in three and scored three times on the week ... senior third baseman
Kyle Comer continued to provide a spark in the middle of the line-up, going 12-for-22 (.545) with two doubles, five RBIs, and five runs scored ... sophomore outfielder
Brett Milazzo made his return to the line-up from injury, scoring five runs while going 6-for-11 with four walks in five games ... junior left-handed pitcher
Kevin Stocke made a pair of appearances throwing 7.0 innings without an earned run allowed, scattering three hits and three walks while striking out seven and picking up a win in his lone start of the week vs. U-Mary ... sophomore right-hander
Nick Dorfman tossed 5.0 shutout innings in a no-decision against St. Cloud State, striking out five against three hits and one walk ... nine Bulldogs combined to throw 19.0 innings without an earned run on the week, allowing just eight hits in that span while collecting 18 strikeouts.
Â
RANKINGS
| Poll |
(1)
UMD |
(2)
AUGIE |
(3)
SCSU |
(4) MSU |
(5)
CU |
(6) UMC |
(7)
NSU |
(8)
USF |
| NCBWA National Top 25 (May 10) |
20 |
- |
4 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| CBN National Top 30 (May 9) |
29 |
- |
15 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| NCAA II Central Region Rankings (May 4) |
2 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| NCBWA Regional Top 10 (May 10) |
3 |
5 |
T-1 |
8 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
WEATHER EYE
Wednesday: Cloudy w/showers ... High 63 (RealFeel: 63) Low 47 ... Winds S 6 mph ... Precipitation 73%
Thursday: Partly Cloudy ... High 58 (RealFeel: 56) Low 39 ... Winds WNW 14 mph ... Precipitation: 15%
Friday: Mostly Cloudy... High 51 (RealFeel: 46) Low 33 ... Winds NW 14 mph ... Precipitation 14%
Saturday: Sunny ... High 54 (RealFeel: 52) Low 35 ... Winds WNW 12 mph ... Precipitation 40%
Sunday: Partly Sunny ... High 55 (RealFeel: 54) Low 36 ... Winds NW 12 mph ... Precipitation: 21%
GAME COVERAGE
All Games at Faber Field:
Live Stats |
Live Video
All Games at Putz Field:
Live Stats |
Live Video
ON DECK
UMD and Sioux Falls will do battle once more this season on Wednesday morning in St. Cloud. Opening pitch of the first contest of the tournament is set for 11:00 a.m. at Faber Field.
